The Newtown schools superintendent said they were preparing for a "normal" day, but it was probably anything but that when classes resumed for Sandy Hook Elementary School students for the first time since a gunman killed 20 of their classmates.

With their original school still being treated as a crime scene, the students were due to attend classes at a refurbished school in the neighboring town of Monroe on Thursday. Law enforcement officers have been guarding the new school, and by the reckoning of police, it is "the safest school in America".

Still, Newtown superintendent Janet Robinson said officials would do their best to make the students feel at ease.